ERROR to the Supreme Court of the State of Illinois.
This was an action of debt brought in the city court of East St. Louis, St. Claire county, Illinois, by the city of East St. Louis against a corporation of the State of Illinois, known as the Wiggins Ferry Company, to recover from it license money imposed by an ordinance of the city. The ferry company pleaded nil debit. By consent of parties the cause was submitted to the court on an agreed statement of facts, which was as follows:
Under and by authority of an act of the legislature of Illinois, entitled 'An act to authorize Samuel Wiggins to establish a ferry upon the waters of the Mississippi,' approved March 2, 1819, and amendatory acts, Wiggins and his associates did establish, maintain, and operate a ferry upon and over the Mississippi river, between the city of St. Louis, in the state of Missouri, and the Illinois shore of the river opposite to the city of St. Louis, now within the limits of the city of East St. Louis, from about the time of the passage of the act of 1819, until the organization of the Wiggins Ferry Company in the year 1853, under and by authority of an act of the legislature entitled 'An act to incorporate the Wiggins Ferry Company,' approved February 11, 1853. In the year 1853, under authority of said act of 1853, the successors, heirs, and assigns of Samuel Wiggins, the then owners of the ferry and ferry franchise, and of all the rights, privileges, and immunities granted to Samuel Wiggins and his successors, heirs, and assigns, by proper deeds and assignments conveyed the same to defendant, they having become the stockholders of said ferry company, and from thence hitherto defendant has remained the lawful owner of said ferry, ferry franchise, rights, privileges, and immunities, including the ferry-boats, wharf-boats, wharfs, and landings in use by said ferry, and the rights, privileges, immunities, and franchises granted by said act of 1853, and amendatory acts, and under and by authority of all said grants, franchises, rights privileges, and immunities defendant has maintained and operated said ferry from thence hitherto. The Mississippi river, at the point between the states of Illinois and Missouri, upon and over which the said ferry is established and operated, has, under the laws of the United States, and the rules and regulations established thereunder, by the duly-authorized officers of the United States, been declared to be, and is, a navigable river within the purview of such laws; and under said laws, rules, and regulations, and especially in conformity to the Revised Statutes of the United Statutes, title L, 'Regulation of vessels in domestic commerce,' the defendant for the last 20 years and more has been required to, and has had all its ferry-boats, all of which are more than 20 tons burden, regularly enrolled and annually inspected and licensed, at an annual cost of from $75 to $100 per boat, according to tonnage and number of men employed on each. The defendant over since its organization has paid to the county of St. Clair, as a ferry license, the sum of $300 per annum, under the laws of Illinois and the requirements of the county authorities; and has owned the wharfs and landing used by said ferry in the city of East St. Louis, which is graded and paved at its own expense, and it has never used or employed any wharf or landing belonging to the city of East St. Louis. Defendant ever since its organization has annually listed for taxation, and paid all taxes legally assessed upon all its property; all its personal property, including its boats and franchise, and all its real estate which is situated within the city limits, and including its wharfs and landings, having been taxed by said city of East St. Louis ever since the organization of said city.
The Illinois & St. Louis Ferry Company and the St. Louis & Cahokia Ferry Company own and operate ferries over and across the Mississippi river between the said city of St. Louis and the Illinois shore, but without the limits of the city of East St. Louis, both in active competition with the ferry of defendant, neither of which are or ever have been required to pay any sum whatever for license to either the city of East St. Louis or any other municipal corporation except the county of St. Clair, to which they both pay license fees.